Disabled gun owners to sue state over new law

Updated 11:36 pm, Thursday, April 11, 2013

HARTFORD -- A statewide group of about 2,700 disabled gun enthusiasts on Thursday filed an intention to sue Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, charging that last week's legislative response to the Sandy Hook School tragedy violates their rights.

Scott Ennis, a 40-year-old hemophiliac, said during an afternoon interview that the state's expansion of the ban on military-style weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines that took effect last week will make it much harder on handicapped shooters to enjoy their sport.

"Connecticut has not only banned the AR-15 platform, but they have also come up with arbitrary assault weapon characteristics that, by banning those too, it bans the same characteristics that the disabled person needs in order to use firearms," Ennis said.

Ennis heads the nearly year-old Disabled Americans for Firearms Rights LLC, which was originally formed to expand the access to shooting sports for the disabled. But after last week's bill in the General Assembly was signed into law, the group made the transition to legal plaintiff. The lawsuit is in the process of being filed in state Superior Court; Attorney General George Jepsen's office will get the case.

Ennis said that nationally, there are 15,000 members of the group.

A copy of the filing indicates that the group is claiming the new state law violates their rights to possess guns under the Connecticut Constitution.

He said that the organization has been reaching out to returning disabled service veterans to get them involved. "Shooting-sports competitions make people feel like part of America," Ennis said.

The governor's office said Malloy had believed it was just a matter of time before a legal challenge was filed, but since the original 1993 ban on assault weapons was upheld in court, they expect similar rulings.

"We've known for some time that groups opposed to the new gun violence prevention law would be filing suit against it," said Andrew Doba, Malloy's Capitol spokesman. "We believe the bill improves public safety, and we will work with the Attorney General's office to defend it. Let's not forget that this has happened before. In prior instances where Connecticut has passed common sense restrictions on firearms, there have been challenges. They have all been unsuccessful."